Kalbarri Adventurethon – "Surviving the Hell of the West"
26/01/2014
Kalbarri is one of those towns you have probably never heard of, a real secret treasure surrounded by amazing feats of nature.To the south of the town lies an amazing coastal limestone cliff network, to the north is the famous Zydtdorf Cliffs (named after an old dutch shipwreck) in the heart of the town is the mighty Murchison river and heading east is a vast stretch of National park that houses some amazing scenery.
Over the Australia Day Weekend the First Adventurethon for 2014 took place in the spectacular town, with a number of top gun athletes as well as weekend warriors lining up for the event which was forecast to be 36 degrees celcius.
The Day started with a point to point run from the coastal cliffs back into town.In the Ultra the 2 favourites battled it out early with Matt Duncan establishing a small lead on Albany Adventurethon Ultra Champ Kris Plain before slowing down as he wasnt feeling confident deciding instead to run with Plain.When the finish of the run was in sight Plain put the gas on and built a psycological lead of 3 metres into transition
Conditions were hot by this town and as each runner came through they were taking the warnings seriously, utilising the provided ice in the undercover transition to keep thier core temperatures low.
In The Paddle Plain and Duncan were neck and neck exiting the Z bend (a Gnarly looking reef obstacle that protects the murchison river from ocean swell) The Long Course competitors soon had the wind behind them catching a great ride downwind and with the amazing coastal cliffs in view.By the end of the paddle Plain had build his lead over Duncan to near around 6 minutes.
On the Bike course the temperature soon skyrocketed to 39 as the riders steadily got further from the coast and followed the Murchison North East toward Kalbarri’s amazing rock features.A tough ride was well worth it as the 2km before the turnaround point turned to a magical rock play ground any mountain biker would be excited to play in.Gregory Rocks was a major highlight on the MTB Course.
In Addition to the top gun athletes we also saw a number of teams and individuals out there having a go and seeing if they could get through it,Spirits were high at the finish line and continued into the night at the Local Watering hole where stories of Heat,chaffing pain, ice in the pants and race tactics continued late into the night.
Adventurethon is now onto its Magnetic Island Event in North Qld March 29th & 30th where a Sell out field is expected to paddle ride and trun their way over the main highlights of the Island.The 2014 events then hit Townsville on June 21st, Coffs Harbour in October and the 100 years Anzac commemoration in December taking place in Albany WA where the original Anzacs left its Port for Egypt in November 1914. Get Training, we’ll see you out there.